The Automotive Thread

Yup. Take for example the Honda S2000. MSRP in the USA was some were around 32K, MSRP in Canada was around 50K for the same car. And the dollar was roughly even. When the Canadian dollar was worth about 1.12 american, they changed the price a bit, but still, it was cheaper to go down to the states, buy the car, pay all the duties/taxes and come back.

 

murp. wasn't in perfect condition. nvm

 

Going to be shopping around for winter tires for our GTI soon...

The car came with the 18 inch wheel package, and there's no way in hell I'm going to be keeping those rims on through the winter. I see on Tire Rack that I can downsize to 16 inch rims and that the sidewalls go from the 40 series height to 55 series height when going from 18 inch wheels to the 16 inch wheels. The width of the tires also goes down from 225 to 205. I know this will impact performance, but I'm more concerned about safety, as my fiancee will be driving this more than I will be.

Would you guys recommend going down the two inches in wheel size? It's a helluva lot cheaper for 16 inch wheels, and then I figure I'll just pick up some steel rims for those tires.

Also, would Tire Rack be my best bet for the whole package, or should I see if local tire dealers also offer the steel rims?

 

I drive a Jetta that's on 16s all year and I will say VW designed both our cars with 17s or 18s in mind, and the spedometre will be off a bit on 16s. Otherwise it's not going to ruin your life driving your GTI on 16s in the winter - I think my car has more torque than yours and I haven't had any problems at least.

 

Thanks, I figured as much.. I'll just follow the car once they're on with my other vehicle to determine what the +/- MPH offset will be and adjust it accordingly (the GTI has an option to adjust the speedometer +/- 5 MPH for this).

What about my second question regarding getting steel rims? Should I find out if the local tire resellers offer them, or should I just go the Tire Rack route and order both the tires and steel rims?

Another question, not related to tires... The GTI came with the DSG transmission. Anyone know how often the DSG transmissions should be flushed, and how much it would cost?

Finally, if you've never driven a DSG style transmission, they're awesome. Yes, I love driving a manual transmission as much as the other guy, but just being able to blip through the gears with paddle shifters is amazing.

 

Wheel size doesn't matter to the speedometer, overall tire diameter is what matters. If you go to a thicker sidewall, you can keep the overall diameter the same and you won't have to mess with the speedo.
Make sure the rims you pick will fit over your brakes. The GTI probably has bigger brakes than a standard Jetta.
If you want to be one of the cool kids on vwvortex, paint your winter wheels bright colors with plasti-dip. Don't paint them all the same color, either.

 

I have DSG (but no paddles) - I only bought it because it was no tax for what was on the lot. I wish it was a stick, but I've still had fun with it.

I'm assuming your not getting services at the stealership (and rightly so, they just bent me over for $500 for oil and filter swaps on Tuesday) if you're asking that. I'm fairly sure it's in the owners manual, but something in my gut tells me 40 000 miles. I will doublecheck and get back to you on this though

You might want to call your dealership for advice on steelies, and then use that advice to go order from Tire Rack.


Edit: VWVortex seems to be suggesting 40 000 miles for DSG fluid change. Which means i'm 4000 km away from mine and they really should have done it when I came in two days ago, Whatever

 

Good call on factoring in the rotor size in determining the size of the rims I can fit on there. I know that the 18 inch rims that are on it are an optional feature on the GTI, with their standard package rim size being 17 inch rims. Anyone know if I can fit 16 inch rims over the rotors and calipers?

Thanks to all for their input, too.

 

Check the size of your spare wheel. The factory doesn't want to spend money there if they don't have to. It is probably smaller.

 

It depends. VW used to have an ad campaign touting that their cars came with full sized spares back in the 90's or early 00's. My MK3 Jetta came with a full sized spare, but that may have changed with the newer models.

To the person asking about TireRack's packages vs. local retailers, TireRack usually has winter tire & steelie combo packages that are cheap. The benefit to that is that the tire is already mounted when it arrives, so you don't have to fit four tires AND wheels in your car and go to a tire shop and then pay another $50 or whatever for mounting.

Downsizing from an 18" to a 16" wheel might be possible, as stated already, as long as the wheel clears your caliper. Just make sure the bolt pattern (5x112 I assume?) and offset are the same. TireRack should only list wheels that fit once you enter your car's make and model. If the overall diameter is exactly the same then you shouldn't notice a difference in your speedometer being off. If the rolling diameter is slightly different, then you will only notice a small difference in actual vs. displayed MPH.

 

I hate working on new cars. Too fucking complicated unless you've got all the diagnostic tools and even then, EVERYTHING is buried under some fucking cover/subcover/panel/sharp edged knuckle cutter and it STINKS.

I think the newest vehicle I can safely say I can fix anything on would be my Jeep and that's because its a Jeep.

A buddy of mine has been driving an 86 Land Cruiser for 8 years now and loves it because he can fix just about anything on it. I love it. Helped him change out the clutch this weekend and it was an enjoyable experience.

What in your opinions are some of the easiest vehicles to work on that LAST? Looking for 4x4 mainly.

 

Like you said, Jeeps are easy to work with. I've had a couple Wranglers and Cherokees and, in particular, the 4.0 is a ridiculously easy motor to work with. The 90s and even the early-mid 00s GM trucks are very simple and have ample room to get to stuff, also.

 

Any of the 87-91 Chevy K5 Blazers. Fuel injection and parts are a dime a dozen. Rear ends are kind of weak if you're into heavy wheeling and the steering box should be welded on better but there are kits for that and its easy to do

 

Basically anything pre OBDII. So basically, before 94-96. Yea i hate working on anything newer, and even if you have the all the diagnostic tools, you will never have the right sensor/switch what ever electrical part to fix it.

 

Hey gearheads, quick question or two.
What is the difference between High Flow Cats and Test Pipes?
What is the difference between non resonated and resonated test pipes?

I know test pipes are straight pipes without the cat, I was more thinking along the lines of the sound.

I currently run an aftermarket exhaust with some HFC and get a bit of rasp that I want to get rid of and thought that test pipes would do the trick. Any thoughts?

 

tirerack.com?

Mastercraft makes a decent tire.

 

I prefer to go to a local independent tire shop. You typically get better prices and service there over a national chain. I'm assuming the Canadian market is similar to the U.S. You can save a few dollars by ordering from Tire Rack and having the tires mounted locally, but in my experience it wasn't worth the hassle when there was a problem. They do have great information online though.

I think Mastercraft tires are fine, the same as their parent company, Cooper. I have Cooper tires on my truck right now. I think Kumho offers the best value for the money though. I just put our 3rd set of Kumho tires on my wife's car, and I was able to beat Tire Rack's price locally. Nexen is also a reputable Korean brand, but I've never used them personally. Toyo and Nitto (same company) are value-oriented Japanese brands who make some of their tires here in Georgia.

Whatever you do, don't try to save a few bucks by buying tires made in China. If you're not familiar with a brand offered, ask where they're made and who makes them.

 

Test pipes will ADD rasp, if anything. My NSX was raspy as hell and it was only made worse by test pipes, although it became so raspy it was awesome. I ran both HFC's and resonated test pipes on my Maxima and I didn't notice a difference in tone of my Cattman system, only volume.

I put cats back on both cars because of the bumper stain. The cars are white and silver and the stain showed very dramatically after 300 miles or so. It took a lot of tar remover and elbow grease to remove and was impossible to get out of emblems. In my opinion, it was not worth it. The high flow cats for the NSX were pricey but I loved being able to take the car on a road trip and be able to touch it up with detailer.

 

Get ready to roll mountains of coal in my new ride... I'll leave bumper stains on anything in the next three lanes.

Doug